Books and screens and the reading brain - conference in Vilnius

E-Read, a scientific project financed by COST organised a major conference in Vilnius, Lithuania on 27-29 September 2017. A stakeholder round table was held as part of the conference, focusing on textbooks and other reading material used in and by schools, and EPA was invited to present the parents' view.

If Kids can do it... - Parents and children together for tackling food waste

EPA has been represented in the FEAD Network by our Ambassador Herminio Correa (second left in the picture). In the network they are trying to find cooperation possibilities of projects financed from FEAD funds and those working with groups of people, those who are the most deprived in Europe, to amplify the effect of FEAD funding. The following project idea was developed at the last network meeting at a contest and won. It is a simple but great idea worth considering to implement. Let us know if you decide to make it a reality.

Facebook parenting page

As most of our children live a substantial part of their lives on social media and Facebook is one of the most important ones, they have decided to offer parents, especially ones who are not advanced users of their social media service, a special site, Parents Portal. EPA has started working with Facebook Europe to ensure that their service offer and the wishes of parents for the safety of their children online are aligned.

Please spend a few minutes on the following survey. Facebook wishes to learn more about parents' knowledge, attitudes and concerns, and adjust their services accordingly. The survey is available at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KJT5SMC

Have your say on the future of Erasmus+

2017 marks the 30th anniversary of Erasmus+, according to the European Commission, one of the EU's most successful initiatives. As the EC says 'over the last 3 decades, Erasmus+ has offered a generation of over 9 million Europeans the chance to study, train, teach, volunteer or gain professional experience abroad.' Parents have expressed their positive attitude, but also their concerns in the EPA survey during the Spring and we have published the results on the EPA website. But we are also encouraging all parents to take part at this official consultation to have our voice heard. Read the EC communication with all necessary links below.

Digital early childhood – DigiLitEY meeting in Bologna

The DigiLitEY COST Action held its 5th project meeting in the form of a very interesting conference in Bologna on 31 August and 1 September 2017. Eszter Salamon, President of EPA was invited to join the project, more precisely a Think Tank on developing a campaign targeting parents to promote and support responsible parenting of young children in the digital age, a times when the smallest of children using digital technologies is part of everyday life. The note below is more impressions than a proper conference report, but hopefully it will still help the message to reach its target – parents as well as professional educators.

European Day of Parents and Schools 2017 - 10 October

Join the celebration of #ParentsAndSchools Day on 10 October, organise an event in your school or publish your videos on social media. This years main topics are career guidance, inclusion and 21st century education.

ERNAPE Conference in London

The 11^th biennial conference of the European Research Network about Parents in Education was held at the University of Roehampton, South London on 5-7 July 2017 entitled ‘Intensification, constraint and opportunity: changing roles for parents, schools and communities. Addressing equity and diversity issues'. This was the first ERNAPE Conference in at least a decade where parents were not considered important enough to be invited, but after some negotiations we have managed to get a role in the forward looking closing panel that we paid ourselves into.